Quite a week

It's the end of one of those weeks....Ruthie and I went in two different directions--she to Chiang Mai, I to Udon and then Roi Et, northeast Thailand.

In Udon I took two of the staff from our fish hatchery / nursery to the Issaan Aquatics Farm to learn more about the process of collecting, incubating, and then reverse-sexing baby tilapia fish.  I spent most of one morning in the ponds learning, again, how to differentiate male/female tilapia (something I learned, what--almost 20 years ago).

 It was strange and poignant to spend the night in Udon again--the place has changed incredibly!  It is a booming city with all kinds of factories and businesses operating there.  Twenty years ago it had the feel of a ghost town, just recovering from the Vietnam war--shuttered bars and wide, empty streets.  No longer!

It has been great to spend more time with the staff there and with Jim Gustaftson in my last couple of trips there.  We are grateful for their help in this new phase of our lives and ministry in Laos.

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Roi Et!  I always get a boost from the team in this lower Issaan region.  They are all self-supporting, bi-vocational ministers,  carrying on the work of church planting, leadership training, and church enablement.  The fish farm is going great guns under the management of one of their key members, Siang.  He rents the ponds, thus contributing to the overall budget, while carrying on a successful business.  He chose the following as his logo for his company and took 3 tries to get it passed by local authorities.  Note what's in the fish!

I also had time with Kristi Byford who is finishing up her Thai language studies in a few months and has decided to join the Thai team in Roi Et to enhance their ministries and outreach into the communities.  Below she shares her decision with the team there.

Cheryl Santello, a newly-arrived short-termer from Alpine Camp in SoCal, also shared her vision to assist in developing both the facilities and the programs of the two Covenant camps in Thailand.  She brings more than 15 years experience in camping to the task, along with a lot of energy and enthusiasm.  Here, Dr. Paul DeNeui (who served in Roi Et for more than 10 years and is currently teaching at the Covenant Seminary in Chicago) translates for her.  Paul also taught one of his favorite subjects--"Who Are We, in the Covenant?", affirming the priesthood of the believers and passing the mike to many in the audience...

Finally, Ruthie and I met at the airport in Udon and returned to Vientiane.  I was anxious to get out to the fish farm to see the progress.  Indeed, it really is taking shape!  The large building behind me will house many fish tanks in which we hope to do our spawning.

On the road again

Anyone who has lived or worked in Laos will understand when we talk about the love-hate relationship we feel with the roads here.  Since we started working here in the early 90's there has been tremendous improvement.  But getting out to villages in remote areas--and even some major roads to province capitals--still present major challenges.

The picture at the top of this page represents 3 hours of fun!  The Lao call it, "kin khao ling"--that is, "eating with the monkeys", an involuntary sojourn in the jungle when its impossible to do anything else.  So, in true Lao fashion... just turn it into a picnic or a party!  

Two large cement trucks, transporting dry powder to one Laos' many dam projects, had totally blocked the road, bogged down in 60 centimeters of red goo.  So, as we waited for a tractor to clear an alternative path around them--and then hook onto each normal vehicle to pull it through the much--we had a party.  Great entertainment.  Tires spinning and sending up smoke.  People pushing and slipping and falling in the mud.  Cheers and shouts of encouragement.  Music coming from somebody's fancy sound system.

Rivers swollen with rain, roads full of mud

Ruthie pointed out a spiritual lesson I could have learned from the incident (she's pretty good at that):  "When you hit a landslide in life, do you fuss and fume, or turn on the music and share the misery with your fellow travelers?"  

I said, "I was mostly thinking about how I could use the empty seats in my van to help out a few stranded travelers."  (Confession time:  I told them they would need to help by getting down in the mud to hook on the cable while I manned the wheel).

Then... the roads in Vientiane!  Once a quaint little town with only bicycles, Vientiane is beginning to look like Bangkok during rush hour.  In some respects, anyway.  Ruthie has confessed to acting like the Romans in Rome.  She has taken to driving her motorbike the wrong way down one-way roads.  She uses the sidewalk, nicely paved with bricks from a UNESCO project, as a bike lane and parking space.

Then, when we cross the bridge into Thailand, Ruthie observes:  "Hey, the roads are much more developed!  We sail along.  We love divided highways and speed.  But we seldom look outside.  We are intent on our destination and accomplishing our goals.  Do we really see what's around us?"

Not all the roads in our life are bad

Of course, driving our Lao van, the steering wheel is now on the WRONG SIDE.  A co-pilot becomes essential if we want to pass anybody.  Ruthie asks, "Do we remember that in life it's good to have a companion to help us navigate new situations?  Do we realize that while we're driving on the left, our car is still a right hand vehicle?  Our perspective isn't the same as a car made for Thailand.  We need to humbly ask for help, we need to realize our understanding, as guest-workers, will always be different..."

Pretty good stuff, Ruthie....  Now, am I clear to pass? 

Mulberries & Livelihoods

We spoke last newsletter about how our relationship with a Lao friend, "Aunt Lydia", has led us to partner with her organization to promote organic agriculture in a district of Xieng Khouang Province.  

That effort is well-underway.  Numerous trips and village meetings have begun to lay the foundation for a long-term project we hope will be an example of community development done well.  

Our project's goals?  To generate income for rural families, begin value-adding to those products, link farmers to markets, and preserve traditional knowledge and skills.

So, we are asking families if they want to join a co-op to begin planting organic mulberry, soy bean, and other crops.  Our goal for this year was  to find 75 families.  After our last round of village meetings we had well over 100 families asking to join us!  But...we will see how that all shakes out as we go through a process of visiting each of their fields, talking in more detail, checking to see if they understand what they are getting into.  

Woman signing up to plant soy bean and mulberry

We have told farmers they can expect several income streams:  Selling soybean, mulberry leaves for tea, silk cocoons from raising silk worms with the rest of their mulberry leaves, and silk cloth, if they choose to weave their own.

 

Lots of women and children in village meetings

This is an exciting time for us!  It's a pleasure to work with a woman and her organization with more than 30 years experience and a passion to really help people.  It's a pleasure to share experiences and values with Lao co-workers.  It's fun to be building again (I love building!)--a combination harvest--silk--mulberry--agro-eco-tourism center.  

Of course, we have only a little money to begin.  But we are believing it's going to come in! We'll keep you informed.